It may seem like a long way off but retirement is something you should think about your entire working life. Creating a retirement plan is a key step to a successful future. Here are three things you should be thinking about now in order to have a comfortable, happy and enjoyable retirement.

Your Home

For most of us, our home is our greatest asset. Having your home paid off by retirement age will be of major benefit. Work out a mortgage plan for paying off your home loan as quickly as possible to allow savings for other things. Think about the home you want to live in when you are 65+. Do you need to move to a more accessible home? Do you need to make improvements to your existing home? You might need to consider adding in accessories such as affordable home stairlifts to make your house comfortable.

Your Savings

Your savings plan for retirement should have already started! If you have a government scheme you can contribute to in order to kickstart your savings and encourage you to save directly from your wage, then do it. It’s a lot easier than putting money aside on your own accord. Avoiding the temptation to dip into these savings is key – you don’t want to blow it on a holiday just because you can. Look into keeping your money in term deposits and investment funds. Also consider visiting with a financial advisor to come up with a concrete plan for managing your money. The more you can have saved for your retirement the better.

Your Time

One of the most important aspects of making a retirement plan is not thinking about the money, it’s thinking about what you are going to do with your time. If you’ve spent your whole life working a 9-5 job, adjusting to retired life can be a struggle. Many people feel at a loss with what to do, how to fill their days and lose the feeling of self-worth that a job brings. Many large corporations have a “moving to retirement” course you can go through, maybe dropping down to working a few days a week while getting support with the change retirement brings. It’s important to build hobbies, commitments and relationships that you are passionate about so that your retirement is meaningful. Volunteering is a great idea for retirees as it maintains a sense of purpose. Look for something that utilises your work-life skills so they aren’t wasted.

In your 20s and 30s, retirement doesn’t seem like a focus but as you grow older you don’t want to wish you’d planned better for it when you were younger. It’s always better to think about the future now!

Life is one great balancing act - between work, family, love and health, keeping all the moving parts working together truly is an art. I'm Sasha and my blog is about keeping all these parts working together to create harmony. Check out my about page for more about me.